


Friend Needed

by mielipieli



Category: Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda - Becky Albertalli
Genre: M/M, there's a single f-word and a shit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-23
Updated: 2018-05-23
Packaged: 2019-05-13 02:10:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14740080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mielipieli/pseuds/mielipieli
Summary: Bram needs to talk about what's happening with Jacques. Or Simon. The line between who he's talking about is blurred. It used to be easy: emails - Jacques, real life - Simon. Now it's in between





	Friend Needed

“Garrett, I have a problem!”, Bram said and pulled a very confused Garrett away from the crowd of other students until there was no one in earshot. 

“Dude, what the hell?”

“I have a problem”, Bram repeated.

“Calm down, man. You look like you’re about to have a panic attack!”, Garrett said putting his hands on Bram’s shoulders.

“I am having a panic attack!”, Bram said. Then, he took a deep breath and started again: “Okay, no. I’m not having a panic attack. That was a hyperbole. I am, however, panicking.”

Garrett looked at him like he’d grown a second nose: “What’s your problem?”

“I have a crush and it makes me feel like I am having a stroke.”

“Well, that’s romantic”, Garrett laughed.

Bram glared at him: “This is serious”, he hissed. 

A few students walked by and looked at them. They must have looked a bit weird since Garrett still had his hands on Bram’s shoulders and Bram’s eyes were still very wide and panicked. 

When they were gone, Garrett tried again: “So, who’s the crushee?” A Bram word. Garrett used them from time to time. When Bram had laughed about it one time, Garrett had just shrugged and said: ‘It’s gotta rub off sometimes.’

“Don’t panic.”

“Why would I panic? You’re the one who’s panicking.”

“It’s Simon.”

“Oh”, Garrett said. “Ooooooh!” He looked at Bram for a moment. “Yeah, that makes sense.”

“What the fuck, Garrett?” Bram didn’t usually swear, especially not using the f-word. If he were to swear at some point in his life, he was pretty sure coming out to his best friend was the right moment for it. 

Garrett laughed: “Was that the wrong thing to say?”

“It was.”

“Sorry. I’m very honored that you felt comfortable telling me.”

Bram sighed but he felt a smile creeping onto his face: “Oh, I was actually planning on telling everyone but you and then I said to myself: Meh, why not?”

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard you say ‘meh’ before”, Garrett laughed.

Bram rolled his eyes. 

Garrett got serious: “So, Simon?”

“He’s nauseous.”

“That’s ‘he makes me nauseous’ in Bram-speak, right?”

“In English, actually.”

“Do you maybe want to give me more than ‘he’s nauseous’?”

“He’s nauseous, he gives me a heart attack when he smiles, a stroke when he laughs, he makes me unable to speak just by being somewhere, and he gives me permanent heartburn.”

Garrett grinned: “Oh, you’ve got it bad.”

“Why do you think I classified it as a problem?”

“You’re really red.”

Bram knew that. He could feel the warmth of his face.

“How exactly do you want me to help you? Do you want me to go up to him and tell him: ‘Hey, Bram’s really into you but he can’t open his mouth in your presence, so I’m now a translator.’?”

“I would literally kill you.”

“I know. Should I do it?”

Bram hit Garrett in the stomach. Garrett coughed and his hands flew to his stomach but he still grinned at Bram.

“Man, you know I’d never do something like that without your say-so.”

Bram felt himself smile a little. God, he really loved Garrett. There had been a few times when he’d stayed up too late because of a book, an essay or just the fact that Wikipedia was a bottomless pit, and had just started crying thinking about how good of a friend he was. He could start crying because of anything when he was tired. The list of reasons included but was not limited to: pancakes, waffles, cooking shows, Project Runway - don’t ask -, definitely Reese’s, Garrett, Matt Bomer’s eyes and more recently Oreos.

“And we really need to get to class”, Garrett said softly. 

\------------

“So, what are you gonna do about your crush?”, Garrett asked as he took a sip of his milkshake. They were in a small diner. Usually, they would go to Waffle House if they went anywhere after school or practice, but there were so many people from their school there that Bram wouldn’t be comfortable talking about any of this. 

“It’s complicated.”

“Beyond the gay thing?”

Bram shot Garrett a look like ‘I’m not sure you should call it a thing.’ Garrett just grinned.

Bram sighed: “Beyond the gay thing and on the other side of the ocean.”

Garrett laughed: “Yeah, that sounds pretty complicated. Are you gonna tell me about any of it or just let me guess?”

“He thinks I’m Cal Price.”

Garrett stared at him: “That probably made more sense in your head.”

“I made a post on creeksecrets about being in the closet and Simon replied anonymously with an email address. We began emailing nearly every day. Then, I told him that I was relatively sure I knew who he was - that was after he had been outed, which wasn’t even the reason I figured it out. Simon said he also had a guess. And, well, he thought I was Cal freaking Price.” Bram did air quotes when he said freaking.

Garrett was silent for a moment: “Can I maybe see that conversation? If you don’t want to show it to me, I can totally understand that…” He trailed off when he saw that Bram was opening the email on his phone. 

“That’s after I said I knew who he was”, Bram said handing Garrett the phone.

Garrett took one look at it and raised his eyebrows at Bram: “The email address?”

“I wasn’t being very subtle, I know.”

Garrett looked back down at the phone and was quiet for a while. Bram tried to read his facial expressions but it was hard when his brain was yelling at him to quit talking about this and definitely not show someone these emails. 

“That’s… kind of intense”, Garrett said. “I really don’t think just because he guessed wrong, means he’s in love with Cal.”

Bram made an unhappy sound.

“He spends a lot of time with the theater people, right? And Cal’s definitely not an unattractive guy…”

“You’re really making me feel better, Laughlin.”

“Shut up and let me talk, Greenfeld. So, Cal’s not unattractive and he’s good at what he does, keeps the theater kids organized and all. Which is admirable because they’re all a mess.”

Bram snorted at that. He’d been to the end of one rehearsal, when Garrett and he had gone with Nick to pick up Abby and Simon, and he still felt a shiver run down his spine at how unorganized they’d been. 

“So, maybe he found Cal attractive and jumped to a conclusion. But, judging from how he reacted to Cal not being Blue, I think he likes Blue a hell of a lot more than Cal. He seems really unhappy with the situation.”

“Because he’s disappointed I’m not Cal.”

Garrett rolled his eyes: “No, because he can tell his wrong guess hurt you and he has a massive crush on his email boyfriend.”

Bram felt the blood shoot into his face.

Garrett laughed: “God, you’re so adorable.”

“Do you want me to call Leah right this very moment?”

Instead of protesting the implication, Garrett’s eyes widened: “Wait, Spier thinks you have a crush on her, right?”

Bram sank deeper into his seat: “Don’t remind me.”

“Why can’t you have a normal love life? Because this shit is convoluted as hell.” Garrett slurped up the rest of his milkshake.

“Why did I think you’d actually helpful?”

“Hey! I’m helpful! I’m telling you to get your shit together. Don’t overlook the fact that Spier is clearly in love with you just because you’re mad this disaster of a theater kid can’t figure out your secret identity! Go get the man!”

Bram felt a rush of energy course through him and laughed: “That was motivating as hell, man.”

“Good, because motivating as hell was what I was going for.”


End file.
